Danny Lockwood pays a visit to Hollins Hall Hotel, Golf & Country Club
Hollins Hall Hotel, Golf & Country Club is a fantastic place to visit, not least for its splendid location. Easily accessible from Leeds and Bradford – and the nearby airport – it sits comfortably on the hill above Shipley, enjoying stunning views across the Aire valley.
Titus Salt’s mill across in his model village of Saltaire is often in view, as are the Baildon hills, as the Yorkshire landscape elevates towards the Dales. You even get glimpses of neighbouring Bradford Golf Club, on the hillside they share below Hawksworth Lane, while Baildon Golf Club sits on the hills opposite.
In the secluded resort itself – despite the key role the golf course plays – you’re not overpowered by the presence of club swingers. Apart from the fleet of buggies and signs directing you up the hill to the first tee, it feels very secluded in and around the stunning buildings, restaurants and leisure facilities – which include a gym and spa. You can even enjoy a game of giant chess and a cocktail in the gardens in front of the original hall.
The golf course dates to 1999 and is a Ross McMurray design that makes clever use of its hillside setting. Although there are a couple of long walks – primarily up to the first tee – and distinct rises and falls in the landscape – hence the large buggy fleet – it is eminently walkable.
With a footprint of 200 acres, Ross didn’t skimp with his green complexes, which are impressively large. Built to USGA specifications, even in early April they were in excellent condition and proved challenging yet fair. Playing into the greens, you’ll find most of the fairways are wide and inviting, with occasional appearances from ponds and ditches.
Recent improvements have included the addition of whiter, softer bunker sand from Scotland which proved very playable. Thankfully, the rough is kept very manageable as well.
Measuring just under 6,000 yards from the yellow tees, the course used to stretch all the way back to 6,632 yards off the championship tees though, as golf supervisor Jack Davison explained, these days the blue tees aren’t used as the whites are still testing enough at 6,300 yards.
Giving players opportunities to take in the views throughout the round, Ross also built a course with an impressive mix of challenges from the tee – from elevated drives to sweeping doglegs.
While the risk and reward signature 14th hole, sitting beneath the towering 19th Century railway viaduct, will live long in the memory for everyone who plays the course, there is plenty of competition in terms of holes which make an impression – including the potentially card-wrecking ninth.
Originally a Marriott resort, Hollins Hall has been part of the Britannia family of Elite Venue destinations since 2018 and offers a variety of affordable membership options as well as society visits from just £35 per player – with groups welcome seven days a week.
Hollins Hall (Yellow Tees)
1 – 273 yards, par 4
A short par four opener with bunkers left and right, and a slight left-to-right dogleg, the first has an elevated green protected by a front bunker. The angled and heavily mounded green is deeper than it looks from the fairway.
2 – 341 yards, par 4
Another relatively short hole, the second presents a wide target from the tee before it doglegs left and heads downhill to the green. The green is well-bunkered and slopes from top right to bottom left.
3 – 496 yards, par 5
Played downhill, the par five third invites a big drive into a generous landing area. Your second shot is played blind, and those going for the green in two should be aware that the entrance to the putting surface is very narrow and is guarded by a bunker right and a pond left. There is also a runoff at the back.
4 – 156 yards, par 3
A picturesque par three played uphill with sand in front, the fourth can be tricky to get right – particularly when putting as the green slopes from back to front.
5 – 377 yards, par 4
A very tricky hole with trouble all down the left side and a slight dogleg, the fifth is played downhill and then back up to an elevated green with a false front.
6 – 383 yards, par 4
A long, sweeping downhill par four played from an elevated tee, the sixth invites a long tee shot with driver. There is water short left, which shouldn’t come into play, as you hit into another big, mounded green.
7 – 503 yards, par 5
This rolling par five is heavily bunkered en route to a green with a narrow entrance which slopes away from you. Do not go long here.
8 – 154 yards, par 3
Played uphill, the eighth green presents a generous target beyond front traps. Players may face some very tricky putts on this steeply sloping green.
9 – 433 yards, par 4
Measuring more than 460 yards off the white tees, and still more than 430 from the yellows, the ninth is as characterful as it is long. Players hit blind over a ridge and must favour the left side in order to avoid being blocked out as the hole falls away sharply downhill and right from the summit. There are no bunkers here, though the hole doesn’t require any to test you!
10 – 459 yards, par 5
A shorter par five with a sweeping dogleg to the right, there are some great views as you play the 10th. Heading downhill from the tee and then back up towards the elevated green, avoid the bunker set below the putting surface on the left.
11 – 406 yards, par 4
The ditch that angles across the front of the green will challenge players’ second shots at the 11th as you play uphill to a huge green.
12 – 324 yards, par 4
One of the shorter par fours here, the 12th is guarded by several fairway traps. It is driveable for the big hitters, in theory, but trouble abounds. The green is heavily contoured and tricky.
13 – 160 yards, par 3
A visually appealing, downhill par three, beware going past the flag at the 13th.
14 – 325 yards, par 4
The Viaduct is the signature hole at Hollins Hall – and it’s pretty as a picture. Anyone fancying a tilt across the corner and over the trees to the green is hardly likely to break a window on a passing train – though they might never see their ball again. The sensible way to attack the hole is to lay up in the bottom of the valley while avoiding a run of bunkers left and diagonal ditch, before playing a relatively short shot uphill to a well-bunkered green which has steep runoffs.
15 – 129 yards, par 3
A short, uphill shot is all that’s required to the angled green at the 15th – just avoid the sand and find the correct section of the green for the day’s pin position.
16 – 348 yards, par 4
Water – in the form of two ditches and a pond – is in play from the tee at the 16th. The hole then rises steeply to an elevated, two-tiered green which slopes from back to front.
17 – 324 yards, par 4
A risk and reward short par four played from an elevated tee, the green at the 17th is hidden behind trees. You can let fly if the wind is behind you, although traps wait to catch out both short and long hitters. The saucer-shaped green can repel even the most well‑struck approaches.
18 – 341 yards, par 4
It’s uphill all the way home at the 18th, with a wide fairway, bunker left, and runoff right from the tee. Your final approach is played to another vast, elevated and angled green with an intriguing island bunker to the right.
